Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV Increases Holdings in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR)

Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV increased its stake in Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,033 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,039 shares during the quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV’s holdings in Equity Residential were worth $2,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in EQR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Equity Residential in the fourth quarter worth $2,493,426,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Equity Residential by 53.1% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,476,004 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $464,718,000 after buying an additional 2,246,555 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Equity Residential by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,442 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $468,050,000 after purchasing an additional 696,343 shares in the last quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Equity Residential by 172.1% in the fourth quarter. Adelante Capital Management LLC now owns 1,077,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $77,310,000 after buying an additional 681,356 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Equity Residential by 79.1% during the 4th quarter. Lasalle Investment Management Securities LLC now owns 1,161,137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $83,323,000 after acquiring an additional 512,723 shares during the last quarter. 92.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on EQR shares. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $75.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.25 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Equity Residential from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Truist Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Equity Residential from $76.00 to $71.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.25.

Equity Residential Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE EQR opened at $68.77 on Friday. Equity Residential has a 1 year low of $59.41 and a 1 year high of $78.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.36 and a quick ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $68.91 and a 200 day moving average of $70.24. The stock has a market cap of $26.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.99 and a beta of 0.90.

Equity Residential (NYSE:EQR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $760.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $769.43 million. Equity Residential had a return on equity of 9.27% and a net margin of 34.76%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.93 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Equity Residential will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equity Residential Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 24th will be given a $0.6925 dividend. This represents a $2.77 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.03%. Equity Residential’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.73%.

About Equity Residential

Equity Residential is committed to creating communities where people thrive. The Company, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. Equity Residential owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,683 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California, and an expanding presence in Denver, Atlanta, Dallas/Ft.